Our examination of the literature has not produced what we would consider relevant prior art. To acquaint herself or himself with general background information on agents, however, a person not skilled in the art may find much information published books and articles, such as the following, all incorporated herein by reference.
Title: “Intelligent agent systems: theoretical and practical issues: based on a workshop held at PRICAI'96, Cairns, Australia, Aug. 26-30, 1996./Lawrence Cavedon, Anand Rao, Wayne Wobcke (eds.).    Publisher/Date: New York: Springer, 1997.    Series (Searchable by title or keyword):    Lecture notes in computer science; 1209.    Lecture notes in computer science.    Lecture notes in artificial intelligence.    Series (Searchable only by keyword):    Lecture notes in computer science; 1209.    Lecture notes in artificial intelligence    Description: p. cm.    Subjects: Intelligent agents (Computer software)—Congresses.    Notes: Includes bibliographical references.    Other Authors/Contributors: Cavedon, Lawrence, 1964—    Rao, Anand, 1962—    Wobcke, Wayne, 1963—    Pacific Rim International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (4th: 1996: Cairns, Qld.)    ISBN: 3540626867 (softcover: alk. paper)    Primary Material: Book    Title: Agent technology: foundations, applications, and markets    Nicholas R. Jennings, Michael J. Wooldridge (eds.),    Publisher/Date: Berlin; New York: Springer, c1998.    Description: viii, 325 p.: ill.; 24 cm.    Subjects: Intelligent agents (Computer software)    Notes: Includes bibliographical references.    Other Authors/Contributors: Jennings, Nick.    Wooldridge, Michael J., 1966—    ISBN: 3540635912 (alk. paper)    Title: Agent technology handbook/Dimitris N. Chorafas.    Author/Contributor: Chorafas, Dimitris N.    Publisher/Date: New York: McGraw-Hill, c1998.    Series (Searchable by title or keyword):    The McGraw-Hill series on computer communications    Description: xlvii, 382 p.: ill.; 24 cm.    Subjects: Intelligent agents (Computer software)—Handbooks, manuals, etc.    Notes: Includes bibliographical references, glossary and index.    ISBN: 0070119236 (acid-free paper)    Primary Material: Book    Title: Cooperative knowledge processing: the key technology for intelligent organizations/Stefan Kim and Greg O'Hare (eds.).    Publisher/Date: Berlin; New York: Springer, c1997.    Series (Searchable by title or keyword):    Computer supported cooperative work Description: xxv, 296 p.: ill.; 24 cm.    Subjects: Teams in the workplace—Data processing.    Information technology—Management.    Notes: Includes bibliographical references    (p. 269-288) and indexes.    Other Authors/Contributors: Kim, Stefan.    O'Hare, G. M. P. (Greg M. P.)    ISBN: 3540199519 (alk. paper)    Title: Developing intelligent agents for distributed systems: exploring architecture, technologies, and applications/Michael    Knapik, Jay Johnson.    Author/Contributor: Knapik, Michael.    Publisher/Date: United States McGraw-Hill 1998    Description: xix/389 p    Contents: Sect. 1. Introduction—Sect. 2. From Artificial    Intelligence Comes Intelligent Agents—Sect. 3. Converging Technologies that Facilitate and    Enable Agents—Sect. 4. Agent-Enabling Infrastructures—Sect. 5. Agent Architectures—Sect.    6. Agent-Design Considerations—Sect. 7. Developing Intelligent Agents Now—Sect. 8. Agent    Applications—Sect. 9. Agent Futures.    ISBN: 0070350116:    Primary Material: Book    Title: Intelligent agents II: agent theories, architectures, and languages:    IJCAI'95 Workshop (ATAL), Montreal, Canada, Aug.    19-20, 1995: proceedings/M. Wooldrige, J. P.    Müller, M. Tambe, (eds).    Author/Contributor: International Workshop on Agent Theories, Architectures, and Languages (2nd: 1995: Montréal, Quebec)    Publisher/Date: Berlin; New York: Springer, c1996.    Series (Searchable by title or keyword):    Lecture notes in computer science; 1037.    Lecture notes in computer science.    Lecture notes in artificial intelligence.    Series (Searchable only by keyword): Lecture notes in computer science; 1037.    Lecture notes in artificial intelligence    Description: xviii, 437 p.: ill.; 24 cm.    Subjects: Artificial intelligence—Data processing—Congresses. Computer architecture—Congresses.    Computational linguistics—Congresses.    Notes: Second International Workshop on Agent Theories,    Architectures, and Languages, held in conjunction with the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence. Includes bibliographical references and index.    Other Authors/Contributors: Wooldridge, Michael J., 1966—    Müller, Jörg P., 1965—Tambe, Milind, 1965—    International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (1995: Montréal, Quebec)    ISBN: 3540608052 (softcover: alk. paper)    Primary Material: Book    Title: Distributed information systems in business/W. König . . . [et al.] eds.).    Publisher/Date: Berlin; New York: Springer-Verlag, c1996.    Description: vi, 302 p.: ill.; 24 cm.    Subjects: Business—Computer networks. Electronic data processing—Distributed processing.    Management information systems.    Distributed artificial intelligence.    Contents: Managing Distributed Information Systems—    Income/Star: Facing the Challenges for Cooperative    Information System Development Environments—A Business Process    Oriented Approach to Data Integration—Solving Decision Problems by Distributed    Decomposition and Delegation—Foundations of a    Theory and its Application within a Normative Group Decision    Support System Framework—Distributed Cooperative Budget-planning and-control—Decentralized Problem Solving in Logistics with Partly Intelligent Agents and Comparison with    Alternative Approaches—Organizational Multi-Agent Systems: A Process Driven Approach—    Development and Simulation of Methods for Scheduling and Coordinating Decentralized Job Shops Using Multi-Computer    Systems—Distributed Environments for Evolutionary Algorithms by means of Multi-Agent    Applications—Multi-Layered Developed of    Business Process Models and Distributed Business Application Systems—An Object—Oriented    Approach—Computer Support for Distributed Informations    Management Tasks (CUVIMA)—The GroupFlow Framework: Enterprise Model and Architecture of the Workflow System    —ALLFIWIB: Customer Consulting in Financial    Services with Distributed Knowledge Based Systems—A Generic Approach for Computer—Assistance of Complex Decision    Processes—Group Scheduling—Methods and Tools for Distributed Scheduling Processes in a Corporate Environment    —Modeling Knowledge about Long term IS Integration and Integration-oriented    Reengineering with KADS.    Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.    Other Authors/Contributors: König, Wolfgang, 1951    ISBN: 3540610944 (hardcover: alk. paper)
The many features and advantages of the invention are apparent from the detailed specification, and thus, it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such features and advantages of the invention which fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and variations will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation illustrated and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.